The Le Mans Cup is back for a second season, though this time it’s seen a fundamental change. In 2016, it was a series only for GT3 entrants, this year, after the success of the Road To Le Mans race, and the category as a whole, the ACO has opened up the floodgates to LMP3 cars.
For the opening race of the 2017 season, 20 cars are set for the series, which is promising, considering the numbers usually topped out between 10 and 15 last year. The split is uneven, but it’s by no means worrying. Five GT3s are on the list – with at least one more set to join after Round 1 – with 15 LMP3s.
It must be noted that the strength in depth of LMP3 in Europe has prompted the organisers to implement a promotion/relegation system between the ELMS and Le Mans Cup, with the top four in the Le Mans Cup to be sent up and the bottom four in the ELMS to be forced down after the season. That will certainly be something to track towards the end of the season, as the promotion and relegation battles hot up!
In the GT class, three marques are represented.
RAM Racing and Lee Mowle are entering AMG GT3s, both with capable Pros. For RAM Racing, team regular Tom Onslow-Cole – who let’s not forget is less than a month away from racing with BMW at the Nürburgring 24 Hours – will join Dutchman Remon Vos, making for an intriguing combo.
British GT stalwart Lee Mowle meanwhile, with the team racing under his own name (the car pictured above), will be partnered with fellow Britain Phil Keen.
The other marque with two entries is Lamborghini. Scuderia Villorba Corse’s Pro is Steeve Hiesse, who raced with the team last year, the Frenchman continuing to build up his CV of GT racing experience which includes racing in the European Le Mans Series, VdeV and a second place finish in the 2002 French GT Championship.
The other Huracan GT3 is from GT Open regular Ebimotors, which this year also raced at the Rolex 24 Hours as part of its continued growth. The Italian team will bring the capable hands of Emanuele Busnelli and the ageless Fabio Bambini to the series, the pair could well prove to be a force!
Optimum is running the fifth and final entry in the class, with the pairing of Flick Haigh and Joe Osborne in the team’s Audi R8 LMS. Osborne continues to impress on the national scene in British GT with his versatility and pace, while Haigh has impressed with her experience level racing in the 24H Series and last year’s Gulf 12 Hours. She also contested the Le Mans Cup round at Paul Ricard last year, finishing fourth.
We know that in the future there is at least one more GT entrant to enter the series, with Gulf Racing UK having confirmed that it will race a customer-run Porsche from the Road To Le Mans onwards.
The LMP3 grid is far more expansive, with 14 Ligier JS P3s and a single Norma M30.
The Norma on the grid is from DKR Engineering, the experienced Dutch team debuting the car in the series with Jean Glorieux and Alexander Toril. The M30’s pace in its short tenure, and with its limited list of active teams, has been notable and impressive. It will be interesting to see how DKR get on against what looks to be yet another strong P3 field in the global motorsport scene.
Since it wouldn’t be an LMP3 race without United Autosports, the American outfit is racing with two Ligiers here, one for James McGuire and Matt Bell, and one for Richard Meins and Shaun Lynn.
All four have experience racing in LMP3, and with what will arguably be the best prepared cars on the grid, have every chance of competing for good finishes, and potentially race wins in the case of the former duo.
Other outfits to look out for are the Kox Racing Ligier (below) of Nico Pronk and Peter Kox himself, as well as the Motorsport98 pairing of Eric De Doncker and Andy Meyrick. Both have every chance of winning as the only two Bronze-Gold pairings in the field.
Other LMP3 regulars RLR M Sport, Duqueine Engineering and Graff are also on the bill, with lineups of varying levels of talent. In the case of RLR, British driver Alex Kapadia will also be competing in the LMP3 class of the ELMS too each weekend, and partnered with Ross Warburton could well benefit in the results tally from the extra track time.
Another outfit which will be racing in the ELMS as well as the Le Mans Cup is M. Sport YMR. In the bigger series it runs a Ligier and Norma, whereas in the Le Mans Cup, a third car will be racing. Natan Bihle and Laurent Millara will race a JS P3 for the rapidly expanding French team.
Spirit of Race too will appear in both series, but more interestingly with a prototype in the Le Mans Cup alongside its normal AF Corse-run GT efforts. Claudio Sdanewitsch and Maurizio Mediani will pair up in that one.
The other entries come from N’Race, KEO Racing (not yet on the entry, but with confirmed plans including Australian racer Scott Andrews), SPV MotorSport (Below), Ibran Pardo Javier and Nielsen Racing (which is set to be badged an Ecurie Ecosse effort featuring British drivers Colin Noble and Anthony Wells).
